Odd booting problems with an ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 4S AC motherboard

[VeqIR]

I moved a basic graphics card to a desktop that was working on integrated graphics, because more than one display connection was needed, and the motherboard (ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 4S AC) only has a grand total of 1 display port output.

Usually that computer is almost never powered off and just chain 'slept' every evening. It's a work computer.

So today after I added the graphics card, the system wouldn't boot. There was a blinking light at the ethernet port, so I could tell there was power to the motherboard, but nothing would happen at all if I pressed the power button. Nothing at all--the fans wouldn't budge, no lights would come on. I thought maybe the GPU is messed up somehow and is shorting something. Removed it, reconnected a displayport cable to the motherboard, tried to boot again -- nothing. Finally touched the two CMOS reset pins with a screwdriver thinking perhaps something is up with the BIOS settings, limiting what could be connected, and eventually the system finally booted. It took a few power button presses, but it did.

Ok, so after that I decided to try the GPU again. Same thing, no go. Took it out again, reset CMOS, nothing. Took out the back-up battery from the motherboard, nothing. Reset CMOS pins yet again -- it booted....

Just left it at that after logging into Windows and putting the computer to sleep for the night.

Tested the GPU at home in another computer: works perfectly, good temperatures, no problem.

So what's up with that ASRock Z390 system? The video card is a basic older Radeon one, good for office work, bad for gaming. It is powered solely from the PCI-E socket, so it wasn't like it was stressing the power supply.

My next step is to update the motherboard BIOS. I suspect it's something with the motherboard... I did check the front panel connections to the motherboard, they seem to be fine on the motherboard end.

I should add: It's a Powerspec prebuilt from Microcenter, so Powerspec may have had a hand in some BIOS modification? Going to flash the latest non-beta BIOS directly from ASRock.

 

[user112]

some old GPUs aren't UEFI compatible and need a vbios hack/update to work. then you have newer ones that only work if the correct port is used. you might have some luck booting in dual graphics mode with a display out from the motherboard. though in your case it could be a bad capacitor/VRM.

 

[VeqIR]

some old GPUs aren't UEFI compatible and need a vbios hack/update to work. then you have newer ones that only work if the correct port is used. you might have some luck booting in dual graphics mode with a display out from the motherboard. though in your case it could be a bad capacitor/VRM.

The weird thing is that the computer didn't boot normally even once I took out the GPU. It took a whole lot of cutting off power to the PSU, turning it back on, finally resetting CMOS and even taking out the battery, and lots and lots of power button presses. If something were up with the GPU compatibility alone, shouldn't it just work normally after I took out the GPU?

The GPU worked totally fine in another computer (also work computer), and now working fine in a test home computer, with the latest driver.

Now I'm also thinking maybe something is up with the front panel power button connection (not at the socket, but maybe elsewhere) so that it doesn't react properly for some reason. I should have tried to short the front panel pins on the motherboard to test that... I can do that next time. I don't have a jumper, but I can test with a screwdriver. The case is fairly nice: it's a Lian Li Lancool 205.

Here's the system specs:

Micro Center - Computers and Electronics

Micro Center - Computers and Electronics - Thousands of products to buy: desktops, laptops, monitors, build your own PC parts, upgrades, digital imaging, printing supplies, portable devices, audio equipment, software, video games, movies, tech books, plus repair service, store hours, directions...

www.microcenter.com

 

[neatfeatguy]

Probably a PSU issue. What PSU is in it?

I've seen issues with PSUs that would cause systems to do odd things such as random failing USB ports. All of a sudden the keyboard or mouse would stopped working - move to another USB port and it works. Adding that GPU requires more draw from the PSU, even though it is only using the PCIE port on the MB. Odd stuff can happen when it comes to power.

Or, perhaps the PCIE port is faulty? Maybe it's dirty?

 

[VeqIR]

Probably a PSU issue. What PSU is in it?

I've seen issues with PSUs that would cause systems to do odd things such as random failing USB ports. All of a sudden the keyboard or mouse would stopped working - move to another USB port and it works. Adding that GPU requires more draw from the PSU, even though it is only using the PCIE port on the MB. Odd stuff can happen when it comes to power.

Or, perhaps the PCIE port is faulty? Maybe it's dirty?

There have been no other issues with that computer at all, we got it 2 years ago, it's been in use every weekday for work.

It's actually remarkably non-dusty inside. Opened the side tempered glass panel today for the first time, and there's only the finest veil of dust, fans look clean. It's in a single-person office on a work desk, it's pretty clean there. The PCI-E slots had never been used until today, as it's just been working with integrated graphics.

The case shroud covers the PSU, so I didn't check. But I doubt adding 25-50 watts of power draw with that basic graphics card did anything to completely prevent booting.

Again, it also wasn't booting afterwards without the discrete GPU connected.

 

[eidairaman1]

Microcenter built it,pretty sure they can fix it.

 

[VeqIR]

Unfortunately it's 1 year out of warranty at this point (only 1 year warranty).

I have never encountered such behavior before and wondered if maybe it's a known thing. I'll try flashing the latest BIOS and shorting the power button pins to rule out the power button malfunctioning.

 

[user112]

if your in North America you can RMA your motherboard direct with ASRock. though they will charge you a out of warranty service fee. personally I did have a similar problem with my z390 board and it was PSU related. more like I tried 3 different z390 boards an none of them would boot on my corsair SFX 450 despite working fine with a z370 board. i then learned corsair was doing a recall on the PSU so I RMA'd it and had no luck with the replacement they sent. after that I ordered a EVGA 650w SFX PSU and haven't had a problem since.

 

[VeqIR]

if your in North America you can RMA your motherboard direct with ASRock. though they will charge you a out of warranty service fee. personally I did have a similar problem with my z390 board and it was PSU related. more like I tried 3 different z390 boards an none of them would boot on my corsair SFX 450 despite working fine with a z370 board. i then learned corsair was doing a recall on the PSU so I RMA'd it and had no luck with the replacement they sent. after that I ordered a EVGA 650w SFX PSU and haven't had a problem since.

Interesting, thanks for your reply! What problem did you have with your system?

 

[user112]

as far a specifics you'd push the power button it'd try to start for 1 second and shut off. no lights, no fans nothing. you'd need to unplug the PSU to get it to try again. I would have stayed with z370 but couldn't find any micro-atx versions and I wanted space for a 240mm AIO.

 

[VeqIR]

as far a specifics you'd push the power button it'd try to start for 1 second and shut off. no lights, no fans nothing. you'd need to unplug the PSU to get it to try again. I would have stayed with z370 but couldn't find any micro-atx versions and I wanted space for a 240mm AIO.

Ah ok, this is a bit different. I had a terrible board like that which could go into boot loops and failed starts like that before (a Gigabyte one) -- it worked fine until any system configuration changed, then it was a pain to get going again, sometimes required complete disconnection and reconnecting parts piece by piece. Did that with any power supply, and I used very nice PSUs at the time, such as a corsair AX850. In my current case, there's no reaction at all to the power button. The fans don't even flutter. I'm wondering if it's the power button. I'll test it soon, but as it's a work computer, don't have time or liberty to do it right away.

 

[TreeBob]

Your board isn't supported by ASRock unfortunately. I recently bought the same board and wasn't until I received it that I realized what was going on. As far as i can tell the only company that provides an update bios is IBUYPOWER and you can get the bios here. https://www.ibuypower.com/support/driver-downloads

It should clear up any issues you are having with luck. I know from scouring the web it seems to have fixed a lot of peoples problems.

 

[VeqIR]

Your board isn't supported by ASRock unfortunately. I recently bought the same board and wasn't until I received it that I realized what was going on. As far as i can tell the only company that provides an update bios is IBUYPOWER and you can get the bios here. https://www.ibuypower.com/support/driver-downloads

It should clear up any issues you are having with luck. I know from scouring the web it seems to have fixed a lot of peoples problems.

Interesting, thank you. (My specific system is from a Powerspec prebuilt, but I’ll check out iBuyPower software.) What problems were you having with your board? (Or read that others had).
Edit: I see, people are complaining about XMP settings/stability. Interestingly there's no BIOS download section at all on the PowerSpec site for this system. I'll check what BIOS version the board has been using (and downloaded the .21A version from iBuyPower to try if the current version is lower.)

 

[TreeBob]

Interesting, thank you. (My specific system is from a Powerspec prebuilt, but I’ll check out iBuyPower software.) What problems were you having with your board? (Or read that others had).
Edit: I see, people are complaining about XMP settings/stability. Interestingly there's no BIOS download section at all on the PowerSpec site for this system. I'll check what BIOS version the board has been using (and downloaded the .21A version from iBuyPower to try if the current version is lower.)

I got my mobo off Amazon and I have no idea who actually makes them. iBuyPower are the only people that made a bios for it and it seems to solve all random problems people have. I didn't have any issues since I just installed it. First thing I do when I install motherboards is look for new bios. That was when I discovered I didn't own a REAL ASRock mb

 

[VeqIR]

I got my mobo off Amazon and I have no idea who actually makes them. iBuyPower are the only people that made a bios for it and it seems to solve all random problems people have. I didn't have any issues since I just installed it. First thing I do when I install motherboards is look for new bios. That was when I discovered I didn't own a REAL ASRock mb

It's a "real" ASRock motherboard, not sure what you mean by that.... It's just that it's an OEM-only system part delegated to OEMs for support with software updates, it seems. I'll try that BIOS.